A Place to Stand

The song "A PLACE TO STAND" is an historic part of Ontario culture. You might even call Ontario's UNofficial anthem -- for about 30 years, that is, until the new catchy tv tune "There's No Place Like This" caught on.

For those of us who grew up in the 1960s or 1970s, it was THE Ontario song that we all knew well.

If you went to Girl Guide camp, certainly you’re going to remember it, although you may not remember the title. Most likely you called it Ontario-ari-ari-o. But its real name was:

A PLACE TO STAND

Give us a place to stand
And a place to grow
And call this land Ontario.
A place to live
For you and me
With hopes as high
As the tallest tree.
Give us a land of lakes
and a land of snow
And we will build Ontario
A place to stand, a place to grow
Ontari-ari-ari-o !

From western hills,
To northern shores.
To Niagara Falls,
Where the waters roar.
Give us a land of peace,
Where the free winds blow.
And we will build Ontario
A place to stand, a place to grow
Ontari-ari-ari-o !

THERE! Does that bring back memories?

The song was commissioned by the Ontario government as a soundtrack for a short documentary film that was screened at the Ontario Pavilion at Expo 1967.

The writers were Dolores Claman and Richard Morris, a husband-and-wife team who wrote commercial jingles for car companies and airlines. Claman also wrote the even-more-famous song, the Hockey Night in Canada theme.

At girl guide camp we used to sing it in rounds… one half of the campfire circle would start and then the other half would start a few seconds later, so that you’d have an echo of the song all the way through.

I apologize in advance if you spend the rest of the day with this jingle going around and around in your head!

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